Just a small French update...

Liberation has an interview with Dominique Voynet, a former minister under Jospin who is standing as the Green candidate next year. All sorts of intriguing bits and pieces about whether she would withdraw if it looked like Le Pen was going to do well if the Left was split, but for me the most intersting was this question:"Could a 'no to the European constitution' partisan be the PS candidate?"

"I don't care. You can't build while looking in the rear view mirror. Building for the 2007-2012 political project on the basis of a 2005 vote seems grotesque to me".

Hmm, is this, to adapt Cardinal Hume, 'the conversion of France for which we have prayed all these years?' French euroscepticism has been championed in the past by Le Pen's mob, and by the rather more respectable Philippe de Villiers, a viscount previously linked UDM but now with his own party the MPF. He's running next year, of course. The FN has attracted support from what one might call 'Old France' - Monarchists, devout Catholics and so on - in away that the BNP never has, and I imagine never will.

Meanwhile, handy hints dept: if you wear a tie etc with a fleur der lys on it while in France you will be taken for a monarchist, and might get some odd looks.

Another story I spotted shows in Le Monde. The mayor of Montreuil (a suburb of Paris) referred to Jehovah's Witnesses as 'perfect delinquents', and is being sued by them for the equivalent of defamation. Looks like civic cultural sensitivity training might be a growth area yonder....